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Stanwood hits put the hurt on Arlington

Along with Stanwood first baseman Tom Enquist, Arlington third baseman Justin Surber watches the Stanwood pitcher to see how far he can lead off base.

— image credit: Danielle Szulczewski

ARLINGTON — Stanwood had some big second-inning hits with two outs, giving the Spartans a comfortable lead en route to a 10-5 win over Arlington.

While playing with fewer errors in the April 20 game, the first of a two-game series, the couple of them Arlington made came at a cost.

Stanwood leadoff batter Mike Vaughan got second base on errors in the first and second innings, putting him in scoring position on on hits from the Spartan DH who followed him.

While Arlington senior Kyle Ayres balanced Vaughan's first-inning run with a solo homer of his own in the bottom of the first, Stanwood got five consecutive hits and and a base on an error to lead 6-1 by the time the Eagles were once again up to bat.

"The second inning was our Achilles' heel," said Arlington coach Erik Heinz. "Those five runs were the difference in the game."

Backed by the Arlington defense, pitcher Jon Van Eyk held Stanwood to 11 batters and no runs scored in the next three innings as the Eagles tried to close the gap. In the top of the third, Curtis Johnson and Kekoa Riggen got on base with singles, setting the plate for Van Eyk in the clean-up position. He hit a double to deep center field to score one run and third baseman Justin Surber singled to score Riggen.

With the bases loaded, Tony Geist sacrificed a hit to center field, bringing in Van Eyk, but Stanwood held the score at 6-4 with an infield play for the third out.

The Eagles inched within a run in the fifth inning as Thane Street hit a ball deep to right field, getting to second as the sun impaired the Stanwood outfielder. Geist doubled to push him to third, setting up a squeeze play by first baseman Jeff Huge. He bunted, earning the base and the RBI for a 6-5 game.

Then in the top of the sixth, Stanwood broke the game open on a three-run triple by Brandon Thomas. He scored Stanwood's 10th run on a single by Tom Enquist.

"I thought we were very aggressive on base and at the plate," Heinz said. "The difference is that the mistakes we made hurt us a lot more than the ones they made."

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